Take Your Book to the Silver Screen
The Shawshank Redemption, The Dead Zone, The Shining, Misery, The Running Man and Carrie. What is the common denominator shared by all of these movies? Correct, they were all adapted from books written by Stephen King.
One of the greatest benefits of self publishing is you keep all the rights to your work. You are free to sell them to a movie producer whenever you want. AuthorHouse published author, Amanda Brown, is a fine example, proving it does happen. She sold the movie rights to her book Legally Blonde, which became a huge hit starring Reese Witherspoon.
Book Heroes Make the Best Movie Heroes
The two highest grossing movie franchises of all time are based on characters originally introduced in books. Ian Fleming's James Bond made the transition to the movies when he was first portrayed by Sean Connery in 1962's Dr. No. 23 movies (and counting) and 6 actors later, this suave secret agent has grossed more than $5 billion at the box office.
Mr. Bond stood atop the movie rankings until another English book character, from a very different background, hit the big screen to displace him in 2001. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter has grossed in excess of a spellbinding $7 billion.
So here are three easy steps to help transform your book into a screenplay.
-
Make Sure You Proceed Within the Limits of Your Copyright
The first step is to check with your publishers to make sure no copyrights are violated in the adaptation process. This is not a problem for AuthorHouse published authors as we actively encourage you to chase your dreams of selling your story's movie rights!
-
Consider the Time Constraints
You need to fit your whole story into 90-120 minutes of screen time. Decide on the scenes which are absolutely essential to telling your story, while keeping the audience enthralled. Consider the number of characters in your story, time frames, what should constitute the core story and which parts should comprise the supporting back story.
-
Ensure You Have a Written Agreement With Your Collaborator
Standard procedure is to make sure you have a written contract defining how any income generated will be split between yourself and the screenwriter. It is very important you find a professional screenwriter who you will feel comfortable working with. Try to ask friends and peers who have worked with screenwriters for references. Also make sure your written contract is legally binding.
AuthorHouse Can Help Turn Your Book into a Screenplay
Even if you don't achieve the heights of 007 or the Half Blood Prince, there are plenty of opportunities to let audiences see your characters come to life on TV or at the movies. AuthorHouse Hollywood Book-to-Screen Marketing Services are designed to help AuthorHouse published authors adapt their book into a screen play by creating a producer-friendly synopsis of their story or introducing their book to a genre-specific professional screenwriter and making your synopsis or screenplay accessible to key executives in the film and TV industry through our exclusive Hollywood database.
